Gold Rush in the American West

I bent down to pick up that dazzling thing and looked at it carefully. My heart almost jumped out, because I was sure it was gold, half the size of a pea ...-James Marshall Gold Prospector/Kloc-The gold rush in the western United States in the 9th century was full of legends. Countless people came to desolate California not far from Wan Li. Some people get rich overnight, while others die. Looking back at that period of history, people gradually found that the story of gold rush is more legendary than expected. Let's start with the "weird" origin of the gold rush. Gold prospectors in California discovered gold as early as 184 1 near Los Angeles and 1842 in Southern California. For early settlers, the value of gold is self-evident. However, these two gold discoveries did not trigger the gold rush, and some even said that the "gold rush in the west" started directly from 1848. Why? It is also gold. 1842 Nobody knows its value? Of course not. The reason is also very simple. Most of the gold discovered before 1848 was located in the area controlled by Indians. They didn't realize the value of gold, and their hatred for colonists discouraged many white people. More importantly, although a few people have found some gold, they are not willing to spread the news. For these adventurers, the treasure they found at the risk of their lives would rather die than keep a secret. Therefore, the low-key behavior of a few gold diggers makes people doubt the rumors of discovering gold, and few people really put it into action. I have to mention California, a place full of legends. Initially, it was a Spanish colony. 182 1 After Mexico became independent, it began to rule California. But the Mexicans at that time did not know that gold existed here. Until 1839, a German Swiss named John Sartre came to California from Hawaii, and he persuaded the then governor of California to give him 50,000 acres of land. This land is located at the intersection of the American River and the Schackmann River, with fertile land and vast forest area. John Sartre built a large sawmill here, and dug a waterway to drive the waterwheel of the sawmill with river water. James Marshall, the discoverer of gold, was born in New Jersey. He joined the westward March in 1844, and he met Sartre the next year. The two quickly reached a cooperation agreement: Sartre funded the construction of the sawmill, Marshall was responsible for the daily operation and management, and Marshall owned a quarter of the profits. Gold digger1848 65438+1October 24th, Marshall went to check the waterwheel of the sawmill as usual, and suddenly he saw a shiny yellow thing in the waterway. This discovery was written in Marshall's diary. He was still in doubt, so he rode to Fort Sartre and gave the gold he found to John Sartre. The two men were excited to find an old encyclopedia, and after careful comparison, they were sure that they had really discovered gold. However, just like the situation in Southern California a few years ago, John Sartre calmed down and decided to hide the news from Marshall: for them, their own sawmill is the foundation of their existence. If the news of gold in the river gets out, their workers will definitely not continue to work, so they have to go bankrupt and work hard for gold with everyone. However, despite their efforts to conceal the news, some people know that gold has been found in the river-but as in 1842, people are dubious and unwilling to take risks. On February 2nd, a man named Sam Branna came to San Francisco, showed people everywhere the bottle in his hand and shouted, "Gold, gold! This is the gold in the American river! " Branna told the residents in the city that he went to the legendary place where gold was found in the American River and dug up the sand! People did not hesitate to go home immediately to pack their bags, give up their jobs and rush to the American River for gold. Three months later, The Herald in new york, USA, also received the news of the discovery of gold in California. The whole United States, and then the whole world, are boiling ... things have come to this. I don't know if you have found a question: Why didn't Sam Branna secretly seek gold, but he wanted to publicize it and increase his competitors? Real wealth is not the gold in the river, but the people who come for it. At that time, there were not many California immigrants in California, and a large area of land was barren. Shops in those small towns don't have many customers at all, and business is bleak. Sam Branna is a businessman and a speculator. He has his own grocery store chain in California, but business is not good. After hearing the news of the discovery of gold, Branna keenly realized that if as many people as possible can be attracted to the gold rush, the tools, food, clothing, housing and transportation they need are huge business opportunities-they can completely rely on the transaction with the gold prospectors to obtain huge wealth. Therefore, he tried to publicize the news of the discovery of gold. In fact, some adventurers came to small shops in Branna with newly discovered gold. When a steady stream of gold diggers came to California, the prices of shovels, metal plates, axes and other commodities in Branna shops soared. For example, the previous 20-cent metal plate quickly rose to $ 15, which is still in short supply. Gold prospectors use gold to buy tools, food and whisky. In a short time, Brenna became the richest person in San Francisco. The gold rush continued to ferment, workers left the factory, soldiers left the barracks, farmers left the land, and civil servants left their desks ... By June 1848, almost half of the houses in San Francisco were empty. People from the surrounding cities have also come. In Oregon, more than 3000 adult men came that year, and they didn't even need the grain that was about to ripen. Of course, more and more people see business opportunities. For example, an ointment advertised by Indian newspapers at that time would be covered with gold particles as long as it was spread all over the body and then rolled down from a height. A bottle of 5 yuan ointment is expensive and obviously useless, but the sales are still hot. A famous example is Levi Strauss. A young man found the pants of gold diggers extremely easy to wear, so he made them out of canvas and sold them to gold diggers. Later, the fabric was replaced by the fabric imported from France, which replaced the traditional canvas. Li Wei also found that gold diggers used to put minerals in their trouser pockets, nail them on the two corners above the belt with brass rivets, and set leather edges around the trouser pockets, which made them more wearable-so the most traditional jeans appeared. In a word, Americans, Mexicans, China, Irish, Germans, French, etc. It has been flowing continuously. Most gold diggers didn't get rich, but those who did business in gold mines made a lot of money easily. The bigger winner is actually America. At that time, American gold prospectors had a strong desire for territorial expansion. The United States has just won the war against Mexico, and California is on the tip of the tongue. The only thing that needs to be done is to make this place have enough population, at least to reach the legal amount of applying for increasing the number of * * * States in the name of "state"-* * can certainly encourage immigrants to go to California, but it is difficult to come up with the huge wealth needed for resettlement at once. When the news of the discovery of gold in California came, the top managers were very excited. Mei Sen, the governor of California, also submitted a report to1/President of the United States, saying that the discovery of gold mines was "enough to pay for the Mexican war hundreds of times". In order to encourage the public to go to California, Polk said in Congress: "The report that a large number of gold mines have been found in that place is unusual. If it is not confirmed by authoritative reports, it is unbelievable." "Soon, American newspapers began to follow suit, constantly reporting the gold rush in California. People can often see this description in newspapers: peanuts are everywhere ... thousands of people poured into California, only 8 12 in San Francisco 1848 in March, and 5,000 in early 1849. 1850, increasing to 25,000 people ... The gold rush brought unimaginable changes to the western United States. Not only California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and other regions, but also gold mining areas have emerged. Colonists kept pouring into the west, establishing towns and realizing their dream of gold panning. When the shallow sands are exhausted, the deep gold mines need big companies. Businessmen, industrialists and banks cooperated to establish large mining companies. They transported huge equipment to the west and hired workers to mine deep gold mines. The entry of large mining companies quickly promoted the development of mining towns, and railway transportation crisscrossed the east and west, greatly changing the social outlook of the western United States. The western United States was "revitalized" by the gold rush, and the United States became the biggest winner. For those single-handed gold diggers, dreams are not out of reach. With the traffic conditions at that time, countless people died in the long journey, and even the Jinsha was never seen; Those lucky enough to find gold have to pay high prices for tools and food; What's more, some gold diggers indulge in gambling and drinking in extreme depression and give their hard-won gold to others ... In Qian Qian, few gold diggers can get rich overnight and enjoy their old age. Speculators like Branna have the last laugh, and the winner behind the scenes is the United States.